Software Piracy is a subject that is dear to my heart because I am a professional software developer and I have written an extensive collection of software that I offer for sale on my web site for an average price of around $5 AUD ($3 US) per program.

This episode presents a well balanced discussion of software piracy.

However, I simply could NOT believe Frankie Mouse's claims that if he uses a piece of software enough then he will go out and buy it, even though he has already ripped it off, hacked out the protection, and been using it already for many months.

Yeah right Frankie Mouse - pull the other one, it plays jingle bells. You're a damned liar !

Show me the receipts and original disks and manuals for the software you have purchased - I bet you cannot produce these !

My own software, offered for sale via my web site, for an average price of around $5 AUD = $3 US per program, has suffered terribly from piracy.

Most of my programs have sold few or no copies at all over the past 8 years, but hacked / cracked versions of my software are all over the internet. So, people obviously like and use my software, but most are too cheap to pay the lousy $5 AUD ($3 US) per program.

The "software is too expensive" claim is completely blown out of the water for my software. However, I still suffer from people pirating my software like there is no tomorrow.

Anyone can email me anytime they like and put me to the test !

So, it just goes to show that if people can get something for free then (at least some) will take it for free - even when they completely run out of excuses for not buying it or using it legally.

Mike "Moose" O'Malley
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Moose's Software Valley - Established July, 1996.

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Anyone interested in re-living the old days of the computer underworld needs to check this one out. Pay attention to the comments by Gary and the anti-piracy lawyer Neil regarding the copying of music. My have the times changed! There's some good interviews with the infamous Captain Crunch and a teen named "Frankie Mouse" identified as a "computer pirate" that will bring you back to 1984 with the BBS scene, underworld zines, and 1200 baud modems.. I had only recently learned that Captain Crunch was involved with writing software for the Macintosh and a little bit of that is discussed here. This one's a keeper!